


give me something more (for my wild imagination)

by greeksalad



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Like I can't stress that enough, actually who am I kidding, kindergarten teacher kya, that's canon lin, this has so much gay energy, tired aunt lin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27663305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeksalad/pseuds/greeksalad
Summary: “So, you must be this famous ‘Auntie Lin’ I’ve been hearing so much about this afternoon,” the woman says, lips parting in a faintly amusedkids, amirite?smile, and Lin suddenly has to consciously focus on breathing.She doesn’t normally go for the matronly type (fuck you, Izumi, Idon'thave mommy issues) but thisMiss K,as Opal had called her, is one of the prettiest women she’s ever seen.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Comments: 67
Kudos: 238





	give me something more (for my wild imagination)

**Author's Note:**

> long time no see !
> 
> this is a piece i wrote a while ago. i originally intended for this to be a lot longer, but i ended up kinda,,, running out of steam ,,,,, however !! i thought i'd post it anyway :)) hope you enjoy!

Normally, Lin avoided Yue Bay Kindergarten like it was a nest of angry buzzard-wasps.

She hates the place; it always smelled weird, and you could hear kids shrieking from a mile away. Lin was always ninety percent sure she was going to get nits just by walking within a block of the building.

However, Lin had gotten off work _early,_ for once in her life, only for Su to text her something about her yoga class running overtime, and _could you pick up Opal for me, pretty please, she gets stressed when she has to wait alone for ages,_ and now Lin’s hovering awkwardly at the back of the classroom, trying desperately to block out the head-splitting screams of a group of overexcited four-year-olds. Sure, the kids are outside right now and so the sound is slightly muffled, but that’s still far, far too close. _Two miles away_ is too close, especially after a long day at the office when there’s a nice bottle of whiskey sitting on her desk at home.

The urge to pace around the classroom frustratedly increases, but Lin stays put: just shoves her hands deep in her pockets and glowers at the Karens that are standing at the back of the room with her.

(She’d gone to lean against the wall at first, but the crinkle of paper at her back and a warning glare from one of the mothers had her huffily aborting that plan. _Don’t worry, I won’t wrinkle your precious baby’s shitty attempt at fingerpainting,_ she’d grumbled silently.)

As the yelling increases to a glass-shattering level – there’s definitely one or two future opera singers out there – Lin taps her foot impatiently. Her initial plan to wait out on the street is looking more and more tempting by the minute. _You’re lucky I like you, Opal,_ Lin thinks, crossing her arms over her chest. _Because your mother’s on thin fucking ice right now._

Speak of the devil (or, in this case, an exuberant four year old, which is fairly close in her opinion); a shout of, “Auntie Lin!” pierces through the air, giving Lin exactly zero-point-two seconds to brace herself before a tiny body slams into her knees. She lets out a startled _oof_ as her legs threaten to buckle in the wrong direction, one hand shooting out to the top of her niece’s head to steady herself.

Opal doesn’t seem to mind at all, just hugs Lin’s legs tightly and mashes her face into the side of her hip. Lin has to bite back a grimace, knowing full well that her face is probably coated with several layers of dirt and old food. She’ll probably have to get these pants dry-cleaned.

Instead of putting up a fuss, she exhales slowly through her nose, then ruffles her whirlwind of a niece’s hair with the hand already resting on her head. “Hey, kid,” Lin says tiredly, and Opal looks up, wide smile breaking across her face, and – _yup, that’s definitely a whole-ass leaf stuck to her cheek._

“Hi, Aunty!” Opal says, stretching her arms up in a silent request for Lin to pick her up. She’s way too old (not to mention too heavy) to be carried around like she was when she was a toddler, but Opal’s clearly inherited her father’s brains; both her and Lin know that Lin’s too much of a softie to say no if she asks.

At this point, they have a routine going: Opal asks to be picked up, and Lin rolls her eyes and says she’s too soft on her, then picks her up anyway.

This time is no different.

Opal rests her sharp little chin on Lin’s shoulder, curling one hand into the front of her shirt to steady herself, and that’s when Lin realises she’s made a terrible mistake.

With Opal settled on her hip, she’s in the perfect position to talk right into her ear.

“You’ll never guess what we did today!” She doesn’t wait for Lin to take a guess. “Today was _outside games day._ We had an obsicle-”

“Obstacle,” Lin corrects absently.

“-obstacle course, and Bolin kept falling off the plank, even though it was _easy,_ so I pretended to fall off too so he wouldn’t feel bad, and then we had a treasure hunt in the sandpit-”

(In a truly inspired attempt at diplomacy, Lin keeps her comment about cat shit to herself.)

“-Mako won and now he’s going ‘round saying he’s gonna be a detective. Is that what you are?”

“Sort of,” Lin says, because explaining the specifics of private investigation to a child with quite possibly the worst attention span in the world isn’t exactly her idea of a good time. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

“Well, maybe he should come work for you! _An-ee-way_ ,” Opal continues, dragging out the syllables. “Then we- Miss K!”

Lin cranes her neck in an incredibly awkward attempt at trying to see who Opal’s now waving at excitedly (so excitedly, in fact, that she almost topples off Lin’s hip before Lin readjusts her grip), before remembering she can just, like, _turn her body around._

When she does… _oh boy._

Walking up to meet them is an older woman, maybe around Lin’s age. She has long, silver hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she’s wearing what is quite possibly the softest-looking sweater Lin’s ever seen. It’s a chunky, oversized thing in light blue, with two koi fish in the middle – one black with white spots, one white with black. Lin suspects that, judging by the occasional wonky stitch and the fact that the fish are slightly off-centre, it’s hand-knitted. That fact is oddly charming.

Peeking out from under the cuffed ends of her baggy jeans are a pair of beat-up white converse. Well, Lin _thinks_ they’re white; it’s hard to tell, because the fabric is covered in dozens of colourful scribblings, very obviously done by marker-wielding children. Amongst the kaleidoscopic chaos, she thinks she can make out a cartoonish depiction of a fire ferret.

“So, you must be this famous ‘Auntie Lin’ I’ve been hearing so much about this afternoon,” the woman says, lips parting in a faintly amused _kids, amirite?_ smile, and Lin suddenly has to consciously focus on breathing.

She doesn’t normally go for the matronly type ( _fuck you, Izumi, I_ don’t _have mommy issues)_ but this _Miss K_ , as Opal had called her, is one of the prettiest women she’s ever seen.

“Nothing bad, I hope?” Lin says when she finally gets her throat working again.

The woman’s smile widens, and, oh boy, this is really not good for Lin’s heartrate. “No, not at all – unless you count being described as ‘super cool and strong’ as a bad thing.” For one stomach-jolting moment, Kya’s eyes flick to the arm looped around Opal’s waist, bicep flexed with the effort of keeping her balanced on her hip, and Lin can only stare dumbly at her as she says, with deliberate casualness, “She was certainly on the money with that one.”

_Did she just-_

Opal pokes Lin’s cheek with a sticky finger. “Miss K is the coolest teacher in the whole wide world and she’s very smart and pretty,” she babbles, as if this is information Lin _has_ to know.

_Yes, very pretty,_ Lin very nearly blurts out, and instead says: “Oh, really?”

“Yeah!” Opal giggles. “She has lots of funny stories, and sometimes she brings in Oogi for us to play with! She’s the best.”

Lin has no idea what an Oogi is, but she _does_ know that Miss K’s eyes crinkle at the corners when she smiles. _She has a little mole by her left eye,_ Lin notes with quiet delight, and takes her proffered hand in her own. She’s acutely aware of her rough callouses against the long, elegant lines of the woman’s fingers.

(She shakes her hand the way her Uncle Zuko had taught her when she was a child: two pumps, up-down-up-down, squeeze, then let go. The perfect nice-to-meet-you-but-I-have-better-things-to-do, no-nonsense, all-business handshake. Lin immediately hates herself for doing it.)

“Thank you, Opal,” Miss K says, turning the full force of that lovely smile on the girl, and Lin, in a truly embarrassing moment of pettiness, feels jealous of a _literal child._ “That’s very kind of you to say.” The woman meets Lin’s eyes again, and Lin finds herself straightening slightly under her warm gaze.

( _Jesus, Lin, what are you, thirteen?)_

“I’m Kya Naitok-Basnet,” she says, and makes a motion like she’s doffing a hat. It should be ridiculous; Lin finds it hopelessly endearing. “Last name’s a bit too long for most of the kids to remember, though, so they call me Miss K. It’s good to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Lin replies, and then, before her brain can catch up with her mouth, “Lin. Lin Beifong.”

(She immediately wants to punch herself. _She already knows who you are, idiot; apparently Opal’s been blabbering about you all day.)_

If Kya thinks Lin’s a total weirdo, she doesn’t show it. “You’re Suyin’s sister, I presume?” she asks, and Lin nods, hoping she hasn’t grimaced too visibly.

“That’s me,” she says, and then, in a tragic attempt at a joke: “She’s the nice one, I’m afraid.”

Kya laughs ( _laughs!),_ and the movements of her head cause her hair to ripple smoothly down her back. “I don’t know, you seem plenty nice to me.”

Lin opens her mouth to respond (though, she’s not really sure what she was planning to say – that tiny amount of praise blindsided her somewhat), but, before she can find the words, Opal starts fidgeting in her arms. “Can we go?” she grumbles. The way she can switch so quickly and effortlessly from excitableness to impatient grumpiness is baffling. “I wanna watch _The Kyoshi Warriors and the Unagi._ ”

Lin just barely stops herself from sighing aloud. It’s true; they do need to head out, because if they take too long, Su’s overprotective ass would probably send out a search party. The problem is, though – and this is the _really_ strange thing, because usually Lin wants nothing more than to avoid all social interaction after leaving work – she _wants_ to stay and keep talking to Kya.

There’s something about her – Lin can’t quite put her finger on it, but Kya’s completely and utterly captivated her after no more than, what, five minutes of exchanging pleasantries?

_(Spirits, you’re such a disaster lesbian,_ says a little voice in her head. It sounds a lot like Izumi.)

(She’s can’t even be mad, because Brain-Izumi _isn’t wrong._ )

“Alright then, kid,” she says, not even bothering to put up a fuss, because, as stubborn as she is, she knows that Opal is ten times worse and _far_ more likely to cry loudly in public about it.

She smiles apologetically at Kya, hoping that her eyes somehow convey that _you’re so so so pretty wow i’m so gay for you i’m a Huge Lesbian-_

“Sorry, I guess we need to head out.” Lin hesitates for a second, then adds, “It was good to meet you, Kya.”

Kya reaches out and squeezes Lin’s forearm. Though her touch is light, casual, the warm weight of her hand against her bare skin is mind consuming. Lin’s breath catches in her throat. “Likewise,” she says – murmurs, really, and wow, when did she get that close? “Will I be seeing you again? I’m sure Opal would love it if you picked her up more often.”

At that, Lin’s brain erupts into a full-scale civil war.

_You hate kindergartens!_ one side of her brain yells. _Kids suck, and they smell weird! Plus, picking Opal up doesn’t fit your schedule_ at all _! Don’t be stupid, Beifong!_

_Pretty girl!!_ the other side screams back.

All in all, both sides are making decent points.

“Uh,” Lin says stupidly. “We’ll see.”

Kya’s lips quirk at the corners into a secretive little smile. “Hm. Well, I’d best let you two go now, huh? See ya later, Opal.” She leans down slightly, holding out a hand, and Lin watches in complete bemusement as her and Opal carry out some kind of weird handshake that begins with a fist bump and ends with jazz hands.

_Stop being so fucking cute,_ Lin grumbles internally. _You’re making it really hard for me to retain my Air of Stoic Mystery™._

“Make sure you bring your bookbag tomorrow, Opal!” Kya calls as they set off down the hall, and Opal pokes her head over Lin’s shoulder, nodding solemnly.

“I will, Miss K!”

“Geez, kid, leaving your bookbag at home? Rookie move,” Lin says, and she definitely doesn’t purposefully say it loud enough for Kya to hear in the hope that it makes her laugh.

(She doesn’t disappoint; a soft chuckle echoes down the corridor, and Lin’s stupid heart swells proudly in her chest.)

“It’s not my fault,” Opal says indignantly, poking Lin’s shoulder with one tiny finger. “’Taar spilled juice all over it, so Mum had to _wash it.”_ She emphasises those last two words with pointed jabs of her finger.

Lin carefully lowers Opal to the floor so she can open the front door to the building - the kiddie-proof handle requiring two hands to unlock. As soon as she gets the door open, Opal snags one of her hands in her own. They’re so, _so_ small compared to Lin’s, incredibly smooth (albeit a little dirt-encrusted) and as delicate as a bird’s wing, the bones thin and fragile beneath the skin, and Lin’s suddenly extremely conscious of how large and work-roughened her own are.

Lin pretends not to be as affected by that trusting gesture as she is.

“Hmm, sounds like a real problem,” she says seriously.

“It is!” Opal says, with the relieved air of a person that’s _finally_ met someone that understands their pain. The last thing Lin hears before the front door closes behind them is the sound of Kya laughing again.

(As Lin strides down the street towards her car, Opal clutching her hand tightly, she can still feel the ghost of Kya’s touch, as if it’s been burned into her skin like a brand.)

(If it were, she didn’t think she would mind too much.)


End file.
